


not what you seem

by sionis



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Assassination, Eventual Smut, F/F, Femslash, Home Invasion, an AU but uhh not really, lena did not mean to get sucked into all of this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 14:19:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11648313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sionis/pseuds/sionis
Summary: Lena had considered her neighborhood in London to be a relatively safe one. Sure there was often political unrest in the area, but Lena considered the place to be fairly safe for civilians. That’s why when she heard the distinct sound of a muffled gunshot coming from the apartment next door, she immediately called the police like any concerned neighbor would. Only the police didn’t arrive next door. Someone showed up at her apartment instead, and they definitely weren’t a cop.





	not what you seem

**Author's Note:**

> Fic inspired by this promt, “I’m a concerned neighbor, so I of course called the police when I heard muffled gunshots from next door. However, the police didn’t arrive next door - rather, someone arrived at MY door, and they certainly weren’t cops.”

Lena let out a sigh as she pulled the soft and oversized grey t-shirt over her sleep shorts and ran her fingers through her short brown hair. It had been quite a day at work and all she wanted to do was tumble into bed and sleep a deep, dreamless sleep until she could wake up to a nice big mug of tea in the morning. She padded across the wooden floor of her apartment to where her bed lay waiting, flipping the light switch on the wall off as she went and sunk down into the welcome embrace of her mattress. Curling the thick down comforter around her slim frame, the cozy softness of the covers seemed to wash away all of the stress and excitement of the day and Lena allowed herself to begin to drift off into a well deserved sleep.

 

That was however... until her mind was dragged back to consciousness by the muffled but unmistakable sound of a gunshot going off somewhere outside the thin walls of her home.

 

A layperson might have been able to pass it off as nothing, if their only experience with the sound of guns was whatever they had heard before on TV. However, after years of working for the private defense corporation Overwatch, Lena’s ears were more attuned to the sound. Like the sound of something hard and fast hitting a plate of metal, only this sound was considerably quieter, as if someone was using a silencer on a sniper rifle.

 

Her eyes flew open and she shot up in bed, the shot sounded like it had come from next door, in the apartment to the left of her in their shared complex. Lena flew out of bed, grabbing the cardigan that had been thrown haphazardly over the back of her desk chair ages ago and pulling it quickly on as she passed through the bedroom door into the hall connected to her living room. It wasn’t until then, standing out in the foyer with her hair sticking in all directions and her clothes hastily thrown on, that she paused. If there was anything her years of work on the ground in Overwatch had taught her, it was that you never _ever_ afford to jump the gun and run into a situation blind.

 

The paused, toes curling and uncurling on the wooden floor beneath her feet. What was she really expecting to do here? Burst into the apartment next door and save the day? From what exactly? She had no idea what was going on or what she could possibly be up against, she was running on pure instinct alone. Lena might be spontaneous by some peoples standards, but she wasn’t an idiot and she definitely wasn’t looking to get her head blown off busting some botched burglary attempt while she was basically in her knickers.

 

Slinking back across the floor to return to her bedroom, Lena quietly closed the door behind her, wanting to make sure she did everything possible so as not to be overheard by whatever perpetrators lurked in the unit next to her. Feeling around in the dark, Lena located her cell phone charging on the small nightstand by her bed, quickly dialed the emergency number for 999 onto the brightly lit screen, and brought the phone to her ear.

 

“Hello! City of London Police, what is your emergency?”

 

The voice on the other end of the line sounded awfully chipper for running the late-night call line at the most used police department in England, but then again, Lena wasn’t one to call someone else out about perkiness.

 

“Yes yes ello’! Ah- so sorry to bother you but there’s quite a situation over here. I think I might have just er- witnessed a shooting?”

 

Without a dash of hesitation the policewoman responded, “A shooting! Oh my, where are you? Are you in a secure location?”

 

“Yes I’m in my apartment, just off of King’s Row. I was just settling in for the night when I heard the noise from next door. It sounded like a gun going off but quieter, like it was muffled maybe?”

 

The voice on the other end of the call was silent for a few moments and Lena crossed her arms and began rubbing her elbow worriedly while the phone pressed against her cheek. A nervous habit she’d had ever since she was a kid, try as she might it was almost impossible for Lena to ever sit still. When the other woman responded in a startlingly different tone. Whereas before the policewoman had been cheery and eager to help, now she sounded closed off and... slightly suspicious.

 

“In an apartment off of King’s Row you said? And you heard a shooting?”

 

“Yes that’s right I-”

 

Before Lena could get the words out of her mouth, she was immediately cut off when the other woman snapped at her with barely restrained annoyance.

 

“Are you _quite_ sure that’s what you heard Ms. Oxton? We haven’t had any other complaints from tenants or anyone else for that matter. Also, you had lead me to believe that you had personally witnessed this so called shooting, but it sounds to me that you simply overheard a loud noise coming from next door. I don’t know if this is a joke or something but I can assure you that the City of London Police Department has better things to do than investigate every bump in the night.”

 

Lena pulled on bits of her short brown hair nervously, fully aware of just how uncomfortable she sounded while the cool weight of her cellphone rested in her palm. That response was… not what she had anticipated and honestly? It was quite rude. But even with taking that into consideration, in trying to actually explain the situation, Lena felt herself become aware of how little she was actually going off of. This whole time that she had been worrying what to do, she realized she hadn’t actually heard any more noises coming from the apartment next door. No violently broken objects, no loud shouting voices, not even so much as a slammed door. No sound at all apart from what Lena _thought_ might have been a muffled gunshot. Which was… strange to say the least. It didn’t take someone with prior experience in criminal behavior to know that this didn’t exactly seem like a typical break-in. Provided there had been a break-in at all and Lena hadn’t just imagined a noise and jumped to the worst possible conclusion. She had been putting in a lot of hours at work recently…  

 

But something still didn’t seem right. No... something was off and Lena couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. But as she continued to hold the phone to her cheek, still on the line, she could feel a sick, gurgling unease blossom in the pit of her stomach. This conversation just didn’t feel like a normal one that should be had when a concerned neighbor rightly called the police about a possible act of violence.

 

\---

 

In another apartment on King’s Row, a woman with long dark hair slicked back into a clean ponytail straightened up from where she had been working over the floor. The tiny black earpiece in her right ear buzzed to life and an urgent voice of another woman rang out,

 

“There’s been a complication, you’ve been compromised. Someone overheard you from the unit next door. A lone woman is currently residing there, mid-twenties. I don’t think I have to say anymore?”

 

The dark-haired woman rolled her eyes and let out a small huff of annoyance. This was supposed to be a simple job. In and out in under an hour. Was she off her game?

 

However, her informant had mentioned that there was only one woman in the apartment of concern, which had to be the room to the very right of her considering her position on the corner of the building. Normally in these types of situations, she would deal with the problem by quickly scouting the place out, before sneaking in and quickly and efficiently eliminating the target. This _was_ supposed to be a stealth operation after all. She normally wasn’t one for impulsive decisions either… but she had some time on her hands now and she was curious as to who had overheard her. It must have taken a trained ear to pick up the sound of her sniper rifle, her gang Talon didn’t spare any costs for the latest equipment after all. Besides, it was just one woman younger than her, surely she shouldn’t be a problem?

 

\---

 

Lena let the bit of hair she had been twisting slip through her fingers as she gripped the phone harder in her other hand.

 

“Look love, I’ve told you what I heard and all that I know. I’m not sure exactly what is going on but if you’re not going to be of any help then goodnight! Don’t worry about things over here, I’m sure everything's _just_ peachy.”

 

 _Bloody coppers,_ Lena thought to herself as she angrily jabbed the end-call button on her phone. _Now what?_ she wondered as she reached her arms behind herself and stretched. She couldn’t believe the police weren’t even considering coming to investigate this. Did they really think she was just some delusional woman being paranoid in the middle of the night or something? What more could she do now? Try and investigate the incident on her own? Barge over and bang on the door to see if anyone was home at all? She still hadn’t heard a peep come from the unit beside her... maybe she had made it all up? But she felt certain, _absolutely certain_ as she had been laying in bed about to drift to sleep that the noise she heard had been a gun…

 

And that’s when it hit her. Lena realized what had seemed so terribly off to her about her conversation with the police officer earlier. At no point for the duration of their call with the other woman had she ever mentioned her name, yet the officer had clearly referred to her as Ms. Oxton…

 

Lena felt her heartbeat speed up and her palms slowly turned cold. What could that mean? Looking back, the whole conversation seemed off ever since Lena mentioned the cause of her concern, the gunshot that came from next door. This was all just too weird and it was sending up major red flags in her mind. Had she even been on the phone with a real police officer? She definitely hadn’t misdialed the number though… what on earth could be going on?

 

Well, whatever it was, Lena’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on her front door.

 

Lena paled and froze for a moment before she collected herself. After all, maybe it was someone from the police department coming to check up on her and her story right after all? Right? That had to be what it was. Even so, she made her way to the door, quietly shuffling and holding her breath as she went. She let her fingertips rest gently on the cool wooden door in front of her as she leaned over and peered through the peephole. Standing just on the other side of the door was a woman who looked to be in her early-thirties with piercing eyes and slightly pursed lips. She was absolutely beautiful in a way that was dark and fiercely strong, her presence reminded Lena of a sharp sliver of obsidian her father had brought home for her one day when she was a little girl. The presence lovely but cold. Lena felt a slight warmth in her cheeks looking at the other woman, but she suddenly remembered her position and let her hand drift to the silver doorknob. The woman didn’t seem to resemble a copper and she looked harmless enough. Maybe she had heard something too and was coming to investigate?

 

Lena turned the handle and pulled open the door. The woman on the other side immediately locked eyes with her. She shifted slightly on her feet and then she spoke in a smooth but accented voice,

 

“Bonsoir, chérie. You are the woman who reported a disturbance next door correct?”

 

“Ah! Yes, yes that was me love!”

 

Lena felt a wave of relief wash over her.

 

“So I take it you’re here to investigate all this tosh then? Although, you got here so fast…”

 

Lena was still standing just in front of the door frame separating her living room from the hallway outside, her body blocking the other woman from entering her apartment. Now that the door was open and Lena could fully see the the brunette woman standing before her, she realized that the other was dressed rather peculiarly. Obviously Lena had noticed that she wasn’t wearing any sort of uniform when she looked through the peephole, but she was pretty sure undercover members of the police didn’t normally done themselves in all black, and she didn’t see any sign of a concealed badge or gun on her.

 

“Hmm yes, about that…”

 

The woman moved to lean against the doorframe while leisurely examining her neatly painted fingernails.

 

“Let’s you and I take a little drive and sort all that out, shall we?”


End file.
